
- BGG rating
- 7.4
SILOS: Crop Circles Expansion
- 2–4 players
- 45–60 min
- Complexity 2.5/5
- 2025

2025
Rules assistance for SILOS
Plain-language explanations of turns, card effects and disputed situations, with official source references and saved question history.
For 2 players

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Answers come from the official rulebook, with the page to check.
SILOS is a board game released in 2025 for 2–4 players, 45–60 minutes per game, and ages 14 and up. It was designed by Reiner Knizia and its main mechanics are Set Collection, Push Your Luck, and Point to Point Movement.
It is the year glork-too-vleep, or mid-20th century according to Earthling time. We recently stumbled across this planet called Earth and discovered intelligent, albeit primitive, life. The most intelligent and valuable of these specimens are the creatures known as cows. Alas, for our galactic goals we must settle upon the second-most intelligent form of life on Earth: the human being. These creatures are just intelligent enough. Their brains appear eager to be molded, and their civilization perfect for our siloing. Aliens have come to silo humans — brainwash, steer, and preserve human civilization — for their cosmic purposes! In SILOS (Secret InterLopers from Outer Space), players control competing factions of aliens who abduct and brainwash humans and cows while secretly invading their community. Players tussle for majority influence in the key locations of this small town as they seek to activate location powers and control human specimens for societal power. Players take turns repositioning their alien figures and activating an event card. The objective is to collect a complete set of humans: politicians, government operators, influencers, and professionals. A complete set will earn a player a societal power emblem, and the first player to earn five emblems wins the game. Cows are particularly valuable and thus count as wild tokens toward forming a complete set. SILOS is a remastered edition of Reiner Knizia's Municipium that introduces many innovations by: Restructuring the player psychology via clear, public, and easy card counting Increasing the gameplay variety and strategies with modular location power tiles Enhancing tactical considerations with powerful leader figures Broadening the appeal of the theme and presentation with wacky alien conspiracy art by Kwanchai Moriya and Brigette Indelicato Enlivening the production with disguised alien figures, abductable cows, and a roaming UFO The separate Crop Circles Expansion introduces more elements of long-term strategy through the crop circles module, while also featuring diverging asymmetry through the permanent skill tiles module. —description from the publisher
SILOS supports 2–4 players according to the catalogue. This range comes from the publisher’s listed player count, so the game can be set up for any group size within it. Some setups, rules and scoring details may still vary by player count, so check your edition’s rulebook for the exact configuration.
The listed playing time for SILOS is 45–60 minutes. This is the publisher’s estimate for a full game. The actual duration depends on the group, the player count and familiarity with the rules: first sessions usually run longer, while experienced groups often finish faster. Setup and teaching time are not included in this estimate.
The catalogue lists SILOS for ages 14 and up. This is the publisher’s recommendation and reflects reading demands, rule complexity and small components rather than theme alone. Younger players can often join with help from an adult, so check the age guidance on your edition and consider your group’s experience with board games.
SILOS has a complexity rating of 2.1 out of 5 from BoardGameGeek players, which makes it a medium-light game. The rating reflects how much rules knowledge, planning and decision-making a typical game demands. Expect a longer first teach for heavier games, and use a preparation guide before game night.
SILOS belongs to these categories: Science Fiction. Its main mechanics are Set Collection, Push Your Luck, and Point to Point Movement. Categories describe the theme and setting of a game, while mechanics describe what players actually do on their turns. Each mechanic links to a catalogue hub with similar games, which helps when you want something comparable.
The credited designers of SILOS are: Reiner Knizia. These credits come from the published game data and name the people responsible for the game’s design, not its illustrators or publishers. Designer pages on MeepleRules collect other titles by the same designers, which helps when you enjoy a game and want to find similar ones.
The catalogue lists SILOS as a base game. It can be played on its own with the components in the box and does not require any other title. Expansions, if any exist, add new content or rules on top of it and are listed separately in the catalogue with a link back to this base game.